ddle class. and that is what this

legislation does. it does so in a . breaking news this hour as we're following what is happening on the house floor. house minority leader nancy pelosi speaking, let's listen in. >> we talked much about what would happen all the gloom and doom of what would happen if we went over the cliff. well, let's talk instead about what happens if we don't go over the cliff. and i believe that we will not, seeing the -- the vote on the rule this evening. i believe that we will heed the american people come together, with a strong vote. we will increase by voting for this legislation and passing it in a strong bipartisan way. we'll increase the confidence of consumers, of the markets. of businesses of employers to hire more. we will extend unemployment insurance to people who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. this is very very important. not only to those individuals, but to our economy because this

is money that is spent immediately, injecting demand into the economy creating jobs. we'll extend permanent tax relief for the middle class, for more than 98% of american taxpayers, more than 97% of american's small businesses. we will support our middle class, strengthen it by supporting child tax credits, credits for higher education, american opportunity credits. earned income tax credit and the like our distinguished ranking member went through some of the provisions. but it is important to see them in the light of what they mean to america's working families. by doing this by voting for the agreement we will demonstrate that we listened to the american people. we have heeded their call once again, to work together in a bipartisan way. i want to salute president obama. he campaigned on strengthening the middle class. i think all of us probably did.

and this is one way for us to fulfill that promise. yes, to all of those who say this does -- all the other things that don't happen in the bill. no i don't know any piece of legislation that i have ever voted for that did everything that i thought it should do. but this is a very very strong step -- first step as we go into the new year. let us send a message to the american people that again, while this bill doesn't accomplish all that we need to do, to grow the economy, reduce the deficit and strengthen the middle class, it is a good way for us to have a happy start to a new year. by taking this first step. i hope that as again, you balance the equities the pros and cons of this legislation that you will weigh heavily in favor of the message that it sends to the kitchen tables of america. about the respect we have for

them meeting their needs, meeting their challenges, honoring their aspirations. this great middle class is the back bone of our democracy, let's support our democracy, vote aye on this strong bipartisan legislation which passed 89-8 in the united states senate. let's step up to the plate to do that in the house of representatives. i urge my colleagues to vote aye and yield back the balance of my time. >> leader nancy pelosi there, like so many democrats, wanting this bill to come to the floor of the house for a vote. an up and down vote. she will get that in just about an hour or so. as part of that although was asked throughout the day as to how many democrats she could bring in her caucus as so well known, leader nancy pelosi able to whip her caucus know exactly who will be voting yae or nay,

the number has been floated around. a lot happening now, the final bill to avoid the fiscal cliff is being debated as we were just listening to on the floor of the house of representatives. voting starts as soon as debate concludes, and we estimate that to be within about an hour or so. months of estimates and gamesmanship come down to this. this is msnbc's coverage of the fiscal cliff showdown in washington. we are staying with you until we do get a final vote in the house, we'll watch that picture right there. house speaker john boehner was able to silence a revolt in his over party, that happened earlier and will bring a bill to the vote. which will happen shortly. the senate bill passed early this morning and extends the bush tax cuts for 98% of american households. a large number of house republicans said they would not support the bill without adding spending cuts. however, they did not have the

votes needed to advance an amended bill. joining us now from the capitol is john stanton, washington bureau chief, okay john, do we have a deal when this comes to the floor for a vote in about an hour or so? >> yeah it looks like they have the final votes for it. it should be about 217-218, which is a minimum number of votes, essentially 250 or 60 depending on how many come along with speaker boehner and part of his leadership team. and it looks likes nancy pelosi will be able to deliver, did a fairly good job of selling this to progressives in particular who had a lot of complaints about provisions in the bill. so it looks like they will have a pretty strong showing. >> you know john the conservative analyst charles

krauthammer said it is a complete route for democrats and "a complete surrender" for the gop. how is this seen? >> i think a lot of people see it very much that way. democrats certainly see themselves as having to give up a lot of things particularly on the marginal tax rates. they feel like you know there should have been some other spending provisions in it. republicans see it differently. they say well we have unemployment insurance not paid for. we are raising taxes on the wealthy. and so both sides i think there is a lot of grousing which generally seen around here is a good sign. i'm not sure if that is the case, but at least for the time being that will get it passed for the next few days at least. >> for those joining us right now, saying i thought we had a deal at 2:00 in the morning, now what are we talking about right now? >> well basically the same bill they voted on last night at 2:00

in the senate. because after democrats took a look at it and republicans, basically at john boehner's conference said no they were not going to take this bill. they didn't like it. and there was chaos, but john boehner let them go away and let the defeat sort of sink in with his conference. they understood there was no way at this point it would change. they were just going to have to take this deal and the spending fights, save for another day. >> how about knowing this is the process? you need to allow the conservative members of the gop caucus to vent what their views are. they would not support this bill. they didn't support plan b where the threshold was at a million. this was just speaker boehner allowing them to if you will get on the record somehow by opposing this senate bill. and then in the end allowing this to get to the floor. >> i think there was a certain amount of that but he was trying very hard to do this. you know, he had the plan b,

sort of failure really hurt his contribute with the conference. he has seen his leadership very much weakened as a result of this. so a part of it was a decision on his part to let it play out a little bit and try to let it work out with themselves. some of this conference was sort of running the show to a certain degree. so you know i wouldn't say it was just that. >> all right, thank you so much for stopping by today. again, john stanton, washington bureau chief for us from buzz feed. thank you so much. we'll go right back to the floor to listen to the debate. >> those veteran's hospitals, a million, at least, new veterans 45,000 wounded. do you know what the republican whip said during those crucial years? cutting taxes in a time of war is patriotic. so much for sacrifice for all of us. when you look back into how we got to this problem, revenue at

50% of gdp, that is an eisenhower figure headed towards truman. we have argued in this town about 19-21% for the better part of 30 years. 50% of revenue at gdp. 12 years of tax cuts. now this represents a reasonable step forward tonight. and i want to say with some personal satisfaction, i'm delighted with what we have finally done to put to rest alternative minimum tax. a million families in massachusetts were threatened with alternative minimum tax. it was the responsible position tonight, but i want to give you a number. you know what these patches have cost us? $2.2 trillion. over the life of amt. the theology that we heard that was so popular in this

institution, tax cuts pay for themselves. you can't find a main stream economist today in america that will acknowledge that problem. this is a reasonable step forward, vote for this measure and let's get on to fundamental tax reform. >> gentleman's time has expired. gentleman from michigan mr. camp. >> i reserve. >> gentleman reserves gentleman from michigan mr. levin. >> -- representative richard neal, speaking live on the house floor as we wait for the up or down vote the bill passed in the senate today, so many hours later we do expect that vote to happen. we're watching them debate that on the floor. joining us now's one of those who will be voting very shortly, congressman peter welch. thank you for joining us. >> thank you knew what. >> what is your understanding of how the bill will pass? >> it is going to pass the

republicans had a lot of consternation, they don't want the raise taxes, grover norquist was thrown to the floor in the senate and is about to be thrown to the floor in the house. there is a lot of things they don't like bottom line we all know we need revenues as part of the fiscal solution to reduce the debt. and secondly it is really important for the country to do things together. you know a divided congress is one thing, but a compromising congress is another. so we need to see that. the fights that we have that are very serious, they're going to continue. make no mistake about it. but bottom line this is going to put a significant marker down that grover norquist is gone. >> looking forward to more compromises as you are alluding to we have several more compromises coming up in the quarter. do you expect this compromise?

do you expect bills to be brought to the floor as we are seeing today without following the majority the majority rule? >> no, i don't. there is a very contentious atmosphere here in congress. and frankly it reflects the fact that there are two polar different positions on how we should address our debt. and i think this is a reflection today that this will pass of what president obama had on the campaign. people supported his position he ran on raising taxes on the top 2%. the romney supporters actually agreed with president obama on that position, the polls show. they know that that is part of it. the hard work going forward is that we're going to have to deal with the cost of health care. this is not a medicare issue so much as it is an american problem where our health care costs go up 2 and 3 times the rate of inflation. and that is not sustainable. but the other issue here is that this is going to i think, help stabilize the economy.

we're seeing glimmers of positives in the economy, by boosting revenues and helping us alleviate our deficit. >> we talk about big business fortune 500, wall street bringing up the 2 trillion in cash that they have sitting on the shelves. businesses waiting to spend that. and the lack of spending optimism causing concern, perhaps dragging on the economy as we see the glimmers you're talking about. for instance in the housing market, and some tick back in the unemployment rate. we'll get that number back on friday, too. but that is expected to go up. speaker boehner's role here talk about that. he said to the senate basically if you can come up with a bipartisan bill i will bring it to the floor. did he have any other choice other than to do that today? although we hear rumors that that may not be the case. >> well i'm a speaker john boehner fan, he understands the reduction on the debt.

he understands that president obama won the election and is willing to acknowledge that that means that the american people support revenues as being part of of the solution. his challenge, he has a caucus of members who ran in districts where they promised lower taxes and they won. so what does speaker boehner do? he has a caucus that wants to lower taxes. there are people who voted for them supported that. but he knows the country needs higher revenues. and he is in fact following through and putting on the floor the bill for an up or down vote that is going to move us forward. so you know, kudos to speaker boehner. >> what do you think in the last 24 hours you have learned about speaker boehner? >> he has got a hard job, he has a hard job. >> certainly. >> he does. >> and you don't want it i guess if you had that opportunity. >> well, it is not an opportunity. >> not for you, not yet. >> he has got a tough job. and you know what? my sense of the speaker is that he wants to try to do the best for the country. this is not the deal he wants

but he knows that it is i suppose the best deal he can get. it is not the deal i want, frankly i would advocate for significantly more revenues because i think that ultimately will be essential if we're going to balance or budget. but bottom line if he is willing to put this on the floor and give us an opportunity to vote yes or no then i give him the credit for do that. >> yeah, if you got the job you may start to cry, too, is what you're saying congressman peter welch, thank you. >> thank you. >> stay with us we'll have more on the vote on the house floor. when that happens we'll have that for you, too. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen and jeremiah. they don't know it yet but they're gonna fall in love get married have a couple of kids [ children laughing ] move to the country and live a

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to deal with the continuing resolution expiration and we are going to have to deal with the sequester. and all again watching breaking news coming out of the capital, capitol hill on the debate floor. started about 30 minutes ago. they are debating the senate bill and will have a vote on that very shortly. watching that with us has been our nbc correspondent, luke russert, we have been watching this, you have the cameras where you see it in the halls. you have been chasing the lawmakers throughout the day. tell us about the arc of the mood, the arc of the frustration or of the energy of members today and where they're at right now as they get into debate. >> well, it is fascinating,

richard, as you know the senate passed this bipartisan vote with 89 votes about 2:00 this morning, speaking to the members on both sides, mitch mcconnell we're going to move forward with parts of this bill at least we'll move forward, we may not like it. joe biden came democrats were on board. and all that was left was john boehner to sell the plan to republicans. then we get word that eric cantor had some problems with the bill. that a lot of house republicans had problems with the bill. and then we sort of see the collapse of the bill among the house gops. talk that it may be amended, that it could go down and send the markets into a tail spin. what is interesting, richard, when it happened there were a lot of republicans that we spoke to they said it is lunacy. we can't do this. we'll take the blame for the

party -- left right, democrat, republican, we need to take this deal. there is another part of the house republican in congress, that said no no no let's have a fight on this. this comes back to republicans know that they got $400,000 as a threshold. a lot of them take it as a victory, because the president started at 250. they think take this deal then the real fight will come in march on the debt limit. and if they don't budge, you know that is the real real big one when it comes to how the markets will react if they want to fight to the debt limit, that will be the next big one. that is when we'll surely pay more attention to than we did this. >> the credits could be down graded, only the second time in our history in modern times. talk to us about what is happening on the floor right now, since you and i talked an hour ago, what happened between

them is they began the debate on the floor. from what you watched and heard, looks pretty good. anything stand out to you at all? >> there was one funny moment where the representative, lewis gomer, a republican from texas, he said i have not a lot to say. i just want to say it is quite fascinating that now, many, many democrats realize that the bush tax cuts were good for 98% of americans and for the middle class. sort of ribbing a lot of democrats who are very, very opposed to tax limits throughout the threshold, all throughout the years. you are seeing the partisan zingers, if you will. and mainly partisan voting on both sides. the american politics in the last ten years, republicans have not seen taxes go up at all, not since bush said read my lips no new taxes. a lot of americans, when you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s, never saw

your taxes go up. and some will see that with the payroll tax cut expiring. with rates going higher for many of the wealthy. and so some credits will be gone. so it is a real big development in the sense that all -- almost 20 years of republican party orthodoxy, the no new taxes by any means, going away tonight. and the optics well we're going over the cliff, taxes going up on everybody. this is about to affect everybody. either way it is very very big news on capitol hill. >> all right, nbc news correspondent luke russert, thank you. >> thank you, take care. >> i know it is a day of football for you, but instead you're watching. >> i know congress got their act together quicker than the nhl, and the lockout, we want the classic back on nbc. >> there you go luke russert, stay with us.

we'll bring you more live coverage, we're watching that for you. we'll be right back. russ either, russert

test

o hard on these issues for decades. mr. hoy . well, off to the floor of the house debate, it continues in about 30 minutes, roughly in that time frame we could know whether there is a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. they're debating it right now. that will end in about 15 minutes, and then we expect a vote to begin on the senate floor, that bipartisan effort with broad support, at 2:00 this morning. joining us now by phone is ezra klein of "the washington post," and nbc political analyst. ezra you are probably watching this. and for many of us watching it if you will did you think it was going to come down to the income thresholds? i was reading your latest post. and it was the first item listed on the major parts of this deal. >> yeah in some ways i think the income threshold has long

been one of the big sticking points, right? and early in this process, president obama was very very aggressive in arguing the point that he was not allowed taxes -- hopes that tax rates, for people making $250,000 or above, him going up to $450,000 is a genuine significant concession particularly given the default here with higher taxes. but i give both sides of the negotiators both credit and blame for that. this comes down to just a dozen or two dozen different things to estate taxes, whether or not we off set the sequester. the number moving parts of the detail in this deal were really significant. and it is probably why we were not able to get a bigger deal. they had trouble adjusting the parts in the bigger areas where there is probably a fair amount of existing agreement. >> you also said you thought republicans were winning for

this deal. for those who are not the far right of the caucus those who are the moderate republicans they believe they are winning in this deal, too. what are they getting out of this? not only the 400 and the 450. >> let me just say, where the republicans are i think it is too early to tell who is winning. but what republicans think they have here, is they believe from the beginning, at least the realists, after president obama won on the election they thought they would lose given that taxes were going up one way or the other they were going to have to compromise on that. or they would get killed in the court of public opinion. they voted president obama down on that. getting away with fewer taxes than they thought. and it is really too early to tell who is winning here. what they believe is going to happen, on the debt ceiling republicans are going to say we're not going to raise the debt ceiling unless you give us a very significant amount dollar for dollar spending cuts. and this time they want the

spending cuts in medicare in social security, and medicaid. they think the debt ceiling is where they have all the leverage. so they were able to take the points of the agreement, which was the fiscal cliff and the taxes, where it would go up automatically, get up with the smaller tax increase than expected. now we sort of move to the republican portion of the leverage agreement. republican republicans say there is no way they would be held hostage. if republicans want further spending cuts they will have to match it with tax increases. which side is right on that ultimately it is going to be decided who got the better end of this deal. >> ezra klein, thank you as always, happy new year to you. >> all right, we'll be right back. sometimes what we suffer from is bigger than we think ... like the flu. with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal. so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies.

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[ roasting firewood ] ♪ ♪ many hot dogs are within you. try pepto-bismol to-go it's the power of pepto but it fits in your pocket. now tell the world daniel... of pepto-bismol to-go. . it is a beautiful january first, 2013 as you look at a live picture of the capital,

rotunda, very gorgeous shot here on this tuesday. quiet outside, but then you go inside. on the floor is where they are, about 45 minutes into the debate on the senate bill passed at 2:00. seems so long ago, one of the folks that joins us is congressman john yarmuth, democrat from kentucky. congressman, you and i have been talking throughout this entire process. >> yes. >> and i want to start with this. so just give us some context, if we go back about 520 days that is when the fiscal cliff was born. and at that time some say that was really the best deal that democrats could have gotten out of this new congress the wave congress of tea party members. >> well, i -- you know i vote d against the budget control act back in august of 2011. the act was really precipitated

over the last rising of the debt ceiling. i figured we would end up here that so many of the differences that we have about raising taxes on the very wealthiest americans, are really intractable differences, and basically it took the last moment, the house republicans are driving the car, careening towards the cliff. and ultimately they decided that it would be best not to go off. we haven't by any stretch, resolved i think the very -- pronounced differences that we have about how to resolve our fiscal situation in this country. and what to invest in and where to get the revenue we need to run the government and to provide the kind of incentives we need for economic growth. so this is a fight that is going to continue to go on. i mean, what we're going to see in a few minutes is a small percentage of house republicans, i guess most of them are probably lame ducks, voting to keep us from going off the cliff.

>> how many do you expect? >> i think this estimate now is somewhere between 50 and 70 republicans joining the -- a broad majority of democrats to get this bill passed. but that gives you an indication of where we're going to be for the next couple of months. i mean, these fights will continue, but i think you also see kind of the pattern for success going forward. and that is that there are republicans, even though it is a minority of the republicans in the house, who do understand that there is a -- a perspective that is much broader and more important than the narrow ideology that has motivated so many of them. i hope that going forward we look at this day and say we can do this on a regular basis. we don't have to have a majority of a majority. democrats are willing to work with republicans who want to move the country forward. >> we'll see if that -- that process that is being established today continues or it is just a blip on the screen

or on the curve at the moment. so you are saying 50 to 70 so congressman on your side in your caucus would therefore need about 50 to 170 of the 193 democrats. are you going to vote yes on it, and do you think that number is possible here? >> well i think it is possible. i'm very confident that we'll provide the votes that are necessary. i'm comfortable with the deal that was reached. and again, i think this was the kind of thing that the american people expect. they expect both sides of a debate or -- divide to give and to compromise. and most of what we were compromising here, were not really principles, they were policies and they were numbers. i mean to go from 250,000 to $450,000 versus a million, those were just dollars we were compromising. those are things american people are confused about. why can't you just split the

difference or come to some middle ground? and we did it here thanks to senator mcconnell, who i rarely thank, and vp joe biden, and so his credit, speaker boehner who said i'm going to pass on to boehner rule and i will put it on the floor, because this is best for the american people. again, i think this is potentially a formula for ongoing progress for the congress and for the american people. >> so he has courage now, again? >> he was -- had courage today, i think he again has it now. >> and i allude to the conversation we had with john yarmuth, and then the deal where you said he was not courageous, and thank you for taking us along the day, it has been quite a roller coaster. >> my pleasure. >> stay with us, we have continuing coverage on the

house, the effort to avoid the fiscal cliff. the debate continues, we expect a vote to happen any minute now in the next 20 minutes or so. we'll continue to watch this and get all the information coming out of the capital. stay with us on "msnbc." we'll be right back. from a devastating tornado. man: and now we're helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. we're a leading global insurance company, based right here in america. we've repaid every dollar america lent us. everything plus a profit of more than $22 billion. for the american people. thank you, america. helping people recover and rebuild -- that's what we do. now let's bring on tomorrow.

well this is it this is what we have been waiting for for so long so many weeks, months even a couple of years some may say, when the fiscal cliff was first designed about 520 days ago. but this is the moment what you are watching on the house floor, a vote to concur with the senate bill that was approved at 2:00 a.m. expected to take about 15 to 20 minutes. we do expect that we'll have an up or down, we'll understand whether that senate bill will become law, goes to the president to be signed first, to become law. there is speaker boehner, walking in to vote. the question is whether he will or will not vote. he does not have to but he can.

mike we're watching them come in 44 nays and of course that number is 217. >> 217, a majority of three vacancies in the house, obviously it looks like they have a healthy majority. a couple of things to watch, in the house of representatives. how many republicans are voting for this? they're expecting 60 to 70 are needed to really ensure a victory. and because -- democrats, obviously as you can see right there, 53 to 4 are voting in support of this in an overwhelming fashion. even though we are told, i don't expect that spread to stay that much. there were a lot of disaffected and frustrated disappointed democrats, particularly on the left. the progressive side of things. >> so far if you look at this vic, 33 in the republican column yay, 43 nay, do you

expect that to be consistent pretty much all the way through? >> that is interesting, probably an even threat,split, better than people anticipated, the speaker will vote in support of this, john boehner, will vote in support of it. obviously, for him to put it on the floor was a dicey proposition to begin with. richard, we have been talking about this all weekend. a lot of people have made a lot of hay about the so-called majority of the majority rule. and the speaker was really digging in. he had told his conference the gop membership in the house that he was not interested in putting a "democratic bill" on the floor. that is standard practice, that is not a recent development. it has been that way almost since the history of the republic. but richard, all the turmoil, all the questions, all of the cliff-hanger nature of this over the course of the afternoon when

it appeared in the morning that house republicans were going to be in revolt they were not going to accept the verdict from the senate in that deal that had been negotiated. and of course from the frantic days of last weekend, mitch mcconnell and joe biden, after talks had collapsed between the democratic, harry reid, and -- what is it getting to be? 21 hours or so ago? 89 to 8, an extraordinary vote with only five republicans and democrats in the senate voting against that. we thought that the bill -- really, just enormous margin almost unheard of margin coming into the house. john boehner would be able to point at that and say look we'll be able to fight another day. the writing on the wall. let's put it on the floor, in two month's time there will be opportunities for us to really push for the spending cuts that

many of his rank and file thought were lacking in this bill. obviously, they will still look for that. it didn't come easy we had a lot of drama over the course of the day. look at the vote spread now, 104 to 56 69 to five look at the democrats lining up in the leadership. that is fairly extraordinary. i'm looking down at the monitor here. things appear to be on a glide path here for passage of this bill, making its way to the president's desk. >> ten more votes, i think, vic as we watch it go down the column there. the yay, for republicans, who are there? >> well you have a lot of people loyal to listeneadership. you have a lot of people loyal to leadership. who are beholden to positions, as chairman to create an example. however, one thing very

interesting is that eric cantor part of what really triggered this is the number two, one of the conservative leaders in the country. eric cantor number two in the house under john boehner, had declared under closed doors, that it was a no. it remains to see how he is voting. i don't know any reason that he would have changed mind other than asking the membership to vote in favor of it. after all, the majority controls the floor, the majority leader is putting this on the floor. that is the way the house of representatives works. sort of a mixed bag, obviously in the nay column you will have relatively new conservatives who came in the tea party wave and the conservative wave in the last two cycles richard. >> also vic, joining us is allison schwartz are congresswoman, as you look at the numbers i watched you

earlier on the floor as the debate was going on for the rule as well as later on the debate was going on for the senate vote itself. we're looking at the numbers right now on the screen. and if you look closely, 78 and 7, yay for the democrats but we also see 42 yays so far, and the nays are you surprised where the numbers are going for the republicans. >> well, i don't want to second guess what we'll hear in a few minutes, but just hearing the comments, obviously you heard republicans speaking against this legislation. but you also heard a number of them including the chairman of the ways and means committee speaking for it. and so common sense, pretty clearly we're strong on our side on this. there was some discussion but the fact that looking at this legislation, i think i said it a few moments ago on the floor. it really does create

predictability, and stability, and certainty for 99 -- well for all americans. but 99% of american families and businesses will see a tax cut continue. and that is pretty important. we have been debating this, arguing it, having really quite a bit of difficulty the bipartisan vote here, as well. but it is just so important to be able to get this done as we conclude this really rather difficult congress demonstrate that we can govern and make difficult decisions, and they can be bipartisan. i think we stood our ground that was important, the leadership from the white house, and the senate. but it was important for us today, too, to really stand firm and really call on the republicans to work with us. >> about six more minutes on the vote, we're watching the number 217 underneath the yay column there, the 217, yay column

congresswoman, that means we do have a deal. it will go to the president. he will sign it perhaps as early as tomorrow. and we have a law at the moment. the democrats, leader nancy pelosi as she has traditionally done being able to whip her caucus. the members getting in line it appears except for at the moment, eight of those. when you were on the floor, and i watched you, discussions that were happening, what is the mood on the floor about what is happening right now? what is about to start, which is the vote? >> well it is so interesting, many people asked what it felt like to come back to congress on sunday and to try and get this done. and tell you, at least to say on the democratic side the republicans, as well. we wanted to be here and get it done. we understand how important it is for us to make these decisions about tax policies for our families while we did increase rates for the very upper income we did it in a fair way. and we stood firm on that. but again, 99% of americans are going to see all the tax -- you

know those tax cuts continue. and that is pretty important. and a lot of tax provisions for helping students go to college. i mean we have fought for these things for a long time. but really americans deserve for us to do the things we did tonight tonight. and looks like we're doing it. which is to find enough common ground to move this legislation to the president and to really deal with the major issue of taxpayers in this country. decisions that will meet next congress but a much better mood for next congress. >> can you tell me about a conversation you just had on the floor that defines where we are at right now when it comes to congress? >> well, i can say from my colleagues democrats, i did have one interaction from a republican who passed by. i said you are somebody i can count on he said yes, i am. actually that reassured me i

felt really good not just for congress, what we have been fighting for as democrats. but really when we do something this positive it is really very important to american families and businesses. and as i said on the floor for this nation and economic growth for the future. and i think we should feel pretty good about it. >> all right, you're feeling good about it right now, representative allison schwartz's close to getting the senate bill tossed over wide bipartisan support going straight to the house floor now. i shouldn't say straight. it took a different route. mike viqueira you're still here with me. and some said we're very close. >> absolutely, i don't want to say it is a foregone conclusion but it is shaping up very well. the seeds of more confrontation are born verye very easily.

others having a big chunk taken out of their paychecks, the markets have been calmed fortunately the respect, i suppose all of this took place on a holiday. but in two month's time we have the triple jeopardy the debt ceiling which the president has said he will not tolerate any gamesmanship on this however, with the debt at $16 trillion and growing, and the country technically already hitting the ceiling. and with the treasury secretary saying he could buy time for moving things around another couple of months it will require a vote from congress. it will be interesting to see how the president gets around that. also we have the sequestration, that takes place tonight if they couldn't reach an agreement on spending cuts but what they did is put off sequestration for another two months. and the third thing they will have to deal with is the bills that fund the government. they couldn't agree in the past year, no surprise there.

they passed a temporary measure, we call it a continuing resolution around here expiring around the beginning of march, ars as well, so all of those things expire, that is the argument they made to the rank and file. it was look, hold your nose, take it for the team on this one. we'll live to fight a better day, in march. >> yeah calling it march madness, could turn out that way with the three fiscal cliffs -- >> so at the white house, would this be a situation where we could see the president come out and make a comment here? >> i think it is quite conceivably, when you consider all the time and effort both behind the scenes and at some of the campaign-style events. which have not incidentally angered republicans, since the election. the president traveling out of washington mobilizing the campaign machinery, to try to

put pressure on the republicans, which evidently has borne fruit here. i think it is quite possible we could see the president come out and sort of punctuate this effort and really set up the scene that we have been talking about for the next effort. really, let's not forget that his trip to hawaii was cut short. he had to leave his family and come back with this issue. it is quite conceivably that the president could go back and spend a little bit more time with them, since he hasgone a vacation over the summer and change his vacation plans. >> vic, i want to bring in luke russert, we're seeing the numbers, 183. >> and look at the yay column the numbers, is this looking good here? >> it looks good right now,

richard, you have 66 republicans, 60 left to vote. they really needed about 75. 80 nancy pelosi was able to have the other votes with democrats. it is expected to pass, one interesting yes vote from the republican side, house speaker john boehner. speakers usually don't vote. they usually reserve the right not to vote. but john boehner voted yes. and it is quite fascinating that he did that. it is rare. we still did not see that eric cantor voted yet. but there was criticism for lacking leadership among the voters. he is putting himself out there with the minority of his party, saying support this deal. >> vic, go ahead. >> i'm sorry, richard? >> mike viquiera go ahead. >> i just wanted to point out something here one of the problems all along is that republicans didn't want to

violate a core principle of conservativism, a core pledge that they made never to raise taxes or revenues. this individual grover norquist who has sponsored this pledge i'm going to read a tweet from grover norquist that we've just seen here. he said the bush tax cuts lapsed at midnight last night. every republican voting for the senate bill is cutting taxes and keeping his or her pledge. and richard we talked about this in the -- >> it just passed, just passed. no more time remaining, it now has passed the house with the senate amendment. >> okay and now we're heading well over, just caution, let's wait until the gavel comes down but strange things can happen. right, 220 -- it is heading north. appears that the deal is done. we'll move on to the next fight here. what i said was, richard, you and i, a lot of us talked over

the course of the last several weeks, going over the cliff would make it more feasible for republicans to vote. because after all, after midnight they were not voting to raise taxes, they're voting to cut taxes. and after not violating the pledge of grover norquist and not violating their core believes and their core principles they did have some problems with the lack of spending cuts in this bill. and that is what they were talking about earlier today, trying to put something, amend the senate bill add spending cuts. that really would have been both a legislative and -- because of the mechanics, a new congress being sworn in on thursday. but 236, now, i'm going to say we could probably declare this bill passed. >> all right, 217 here luke you know you have to feel quite gratified, too, you have been there all day in the capitol,

watching the members. and is there really a difference in the mood here we have spoken to members. democrats seem to be quite excited at this vote. they have been asking for it to come to the floor. is it very different on the other side? >> well before i get to that i think something i should point out. you see there are about 81 republican votes right now. this is technically a violation of the